Where does Hurricanes’ ‘Category 5’ comeback in Game 2 rank in franchise playoff history?

Perhaps the most surprising thing about the Carolina Hurricanes’ comeback from three goals down to win Game 2 on Monday was how unexceptional it was.

They have done this kind of thing before, so many times. They have even done this exact thing before. There have only been seven times in all of NHL history that a team scored the game-tying and game-winning goals in the final three minutes of a playoff game. The Hurricanes, after this 5-3 win over the New York Islanders to take a 2-0 lead in their first-round series, account for two of them.

This current generation of Hurricanes has excelled at overtime drama, most notably Brock McGinn’s double-overtime goal in Game 7 in Washington. In fact, of the seven series the Hurricanes have won since 2019, four have been settled on overtime winners. That’s working late. But for true comebacks like Monday, we have to dig a little deeper.

“You do need to take time to reflect on those things because they’re special,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “How often do you see a game like that, with the stakes and everything that they are? But it’s hard, because we’re always moving onto the next thing.”

So where does Monday’s “Category 5” comeback rank among all of the others?

1. ‘Miracle at Molson’

Still the OG of Hurricanes’ playoff surprises, in part because they didn’t have a lot of playoff history to speak of back in 2002, especially after falling behind 2-1 in their second-round series against the Montreal Canadiens, and especially after trailing 3-0 going into the third period of Game 4. Habs goalie phenom Jose Theodore looked untouchable and the Hurricanes looked doomed.

But Montreal coach Michel Therrien mouthed off and gifted the Hurricanes a 5-on-3 power play early in the third, which Sean Hill converted. Then Bates Battaglia scored. Then Erik Cole scored with the Carolina net empty. And then Niclas Wallin, 3:14 into overtime, scored the first of his three career playoff overtime goals to give the Hurricanes a 4-3 win.

They scored as many goals in the final 23:14 as they had in the entire series to that point. Theodore unraveled. The Hurricanes coasted to wins in Game 5 and 6, closing out the series with a blowout win in Montreal.

“You had to be there to see it, otherwise you almost wouldn’t believe it,” said goalie Kevin Weekes, who was pulled in the second period and watched the comeback from the tunnel to the visiting locker room. “It’s just one of those things. We overcame ourselves. We overcame their team. We overcame the crowd. We overcame energy we could feel but couldn’t see. This was truly special.”

2. ‘Shock at the Rock’

Monday was the second time the Hurricanes turned around a playoff game in the final three minutes. The first time, they turned around an entire series in the final 80 seconds. Down 2-1 to the New Jersey Devils in a first-round Game 7 at Newark’s Prudential Center, facing seemingly inevitable elimination, Jussi Jokinen scored with 1:20 to play to, presumably force overtime. But Eric Staal scored again with 32 seconds to go and suddenly the Hurricanes went from going home to going to Boston.

All you could say was, what the heck just happened?

“You tell me,” captain Rod Brind’Amour said. “It’s amazing the [stuff] we can pull off sometimes. I don’t know how we do it.”

It was a staggering reversal of fate, and it was all the more improbable coming against the best goaltender of his generation, Martin Brodeur. But the Hurricanes always had Brodeur’s number, ending the Devils’ season three times in a seven-year span. It wasn’t the first time they beat him in the waning seconds, either...

3. Game 2, 2006 Eastern Conference semifinals vs. New Jersey

This finish doesn’t have a catchy nickname, but it further defined the death-defying powers of a team that would go on to win the Stanley Cup. The Hurricanes had come back from a 2-0 deficit in the first round to beat the Montreal Canadiens, thanks in part to a goalie switch from Martin Gerber to rookie Cam Ward, only to meet the Devils for the third straight time in the postseason.

Brodeur got yanked as the Hurricanes romped to a 6-0 win in Game 1, but the Devils’ Scott Gomez appeared to have evened the series when he scored to give the Devils a 2-1 lead with 20.7 seconds to go. But Devils center John Madden won the ensuing center-ice faceoff all the way into his own end, where the Hurricanes maintained possession until Cory Stillman fed Eric Staal for the game-tying goal with only three seconds to play.

The Hurricanes went on to win in overtime thanks to Wallin, who accidentally scored when he lost the puck and it somehow ended up behind Brodeur and anointed himself “The Secret Weapon” for his extra-time heroics. The series was essentially over at that point, although it took three more games to complete the gentleman’s sweep.

4. ‘Category 5’

If Monday’s game ends up being a pivotal a turning point for this team as the previous one was in 2006, it could very well move up this list. For now, being in the first round in a series in which the Hurricanes are heavily favored and lead 2-0, it will defer to those three predecessors. But that in no way takes away from the improbability and impossibility of what happened Monday night against the Islanders.

As much as we think of these things through the eyes of the Hurricanes, imagine the perspective of Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello, as savvy and successful a hockey executive as there has ever been in the NHL. He was the Devils’ GM when the Hurricanes eliminated New Jersey in 2002 and 2006 and behind the bench as well in 2009. Since taking over the Islanders, the Hurricanes have eliminated them twice, in 2019 and 2023, and are halfway to doing it again.

The Hurricanes have certainly had their own trials and tribulations over the years, but it would be hard to blame Lamoriello (or Brodeur, who watched the Hurricanes eliminate the Devils again last spring as a front-office executive) for wanting to burn the entire franchise to the ground.

5. Game 1, 2006 Stanley Cup finals vs. Edmonton

Because of how the series ended — with that dramatic Game 7 win over the Oilers on home ice — it’s sometimes forgotten how the series started. But the Hurricanes were down 3-0 in the second period of that game, looking like the seven-game war of attrition with the Buffalo Sabres in the conference finals had left their tank empty.

The Hurricanes stormed back with four goals in 14 minutes, only to relinquish the lead with six minutes to go. Overtime surely loomed. But a goalmouth collision with Andrew Ladd knocked Oilers goalie Dwayne Roloson out of the game (and the series) and his replacement, Ty Conklin, misplayed the puck behind the net for Brind’Amour to stuff home with 31.1 seconds to go. The Hurricanes were dismayed at how they had played, and yet still only three wins from the Stanley Cup.

“I’m almost confused how to feel, honestly,” coach Peter Laviolette said.

NC Reality Check is an N&O series holding those in power accountable and shining a light on public issues that affect the Triangle or North Carolina. Have a suggestion for a future story? Email realitycheck@newsobserver.com

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